ACTE Postsecondary CTE Summit 2026

This session challenges one of the most persistent misconceptions in secondary education: that Career and Technical Education (CTE) is separate from, or secondary to college pathways. Grounded in real results from a Title I high school, this session shares how a dual credit Accounting classroom produced 14 college credits for students who were not traditionally placed on a “college track,” and how that model scaled into a schoolwide CTE framework.
Designed for CTE leaders, administrators, and postsecondary partners, this session provides a clear, replicable approach to embedding dual credit into CTE pathways to increase postsecondary access for Black and brown students.
Participants will engage in guided reflection, small-group planning, and real-time application activities to evaluate their current systems and design actionable next steps. Attendees will leave with a dual credit integration framework, a counselor engagement strategy, and a pathway planning tool that can be implemented immediately within their own institutions.
This is not a theoretical session. It is a blueprint for transforming CTE into a measurable college access strategy.